All right, I think I've got a handle on her now. Definitely going Calistrian, and it'll work in that whip everyone's so fond of, too. Nazard, do you have the Calistria article in Pathfinder 17? Do you want to work up a vague idea of what the temple in Lowcleft is like, or would you like me to? I'm assuming it's going to be largely focused on improving the lives of the working girls and boys in the district, while the grander temple would be more into the elaborate revenge schemes the upper classes have the time and money to concoct.

The up town temple would also be for the more high society escort types. On the other hand, the Magnimar nobility is known for its fondness of slumming, so they would frequent both. Besides, even the poor and common folk need to plot revenge from time to time. I don't have the article, but I do have the wiki which has that info.

I'd like to take a level of cleric eventually, but it feels a little abrupt to do so right away; maybe for her third level, she'll go bard 2/cleric 1. It'll give her some time to get involved with the temple and make sure this is what she wants to do with her life. She's going to continue to progress as a street performer, but the cleric level will give her some official status in the temple and some Calistrian mechanics to back up the fluff. A few extra channels can always come in handy, anyway, without stepping on Laya's toes. Her domains will be Chaos and Luck.

I'm thinking she could run across a working girl getting harrassed in Lowcleft one evening and as she's intervening (making her beach, in Mrs. Brigglespan's words), a couple of Calistrians show up to help. Afterwards they invite her back to the temple and introduce her around. She can start spending time there, get to know one of the male clerics, and by the time she levels again, she'd be ready to officially enter the priestesshood. As all of this is happening off-stage to the main group, we wouldn't have to play any of it out, just agree on the basics and it becomes part of her backstory.

As it happens, I already have a perfect way of writing something like that in without having to add in an extra Auriel-only encounter into the mix. The only down side, is that by the time Auriel had time to get in with the Calistrians to study for clericism, she'd already be third level. Also, I tend to view the training necessary for becoming a full-fledged cleric as a more lengthy process (in my games with Navior, I have had two characters multiclass into clerics along the way - neither planned. One took two years of game time to study away from the rest of the party in a temple, the other was courted by an evil goddess in order to bring him to the dark side, so she granted powers without him really knowing what was happening.) We could go that second route with Auriel, if you like.

Another option you could consider would be an oracle or inquisitor. An inquisitor of Calistria could be quite frighteningly effective, you still get tons of fluff mechanics, a domain for domain powers, and one judgment per day that lasts for an entire combat (and this campaign will very rarely have more than one combat per day anyways, as you've already seen). Just a thought for you. If you're wedded to the cleric idea, though, that's fine too.

I considered oracle -- she's already proven very effective at the revenge thing, as she only rolls really well on Bluffs when she's getting back at people, so she might have drawn attention from Calistria's court already -- but I have an oracle in another game and she's even less effective than Auriel and Corinne. I'd have to have a curse, which would gimp her even worse than she already is, and none of the mysteries really fit Calistria. As for inquisitor, while I love the concept of the class, I hate the mechanics. I know they can be really powerful, but they're just not fun for me.

Can't really see Calistria cutting corners for Auriel, though. She's not an elf and due to her human lifespan will never attain to the levels of revenge-served-cold that the goddess delights in. I guess she could just stay a bard and hang around the temple extra-curricularly. Truthfully, being a bard is really boring me. The plain vanilla bard is at least really useful in combat, round after round, no matter how bored I get with the Inspire Courage. The distraction thing isn't proving as helpful as I'd hoped, not least because no one really likes Auriel and wants to work with her. Honestly, joining the temple would be at least partly so she has some actual friends and allies, rather than just co-workers with a mutual toleration pact. Maybe Wisp should have just coup-de-graced her after all. :P

Probably a viable business model, too. I bet there are lots of wealthy older women who have gnome ladies'-maids. Heck, if she takes youthful appearance as her 1st-level spell, she could just retire from MSI and sit back to watch the bidding war among the socialites of a certain age for her services. :)

Auriel is really a much nicer person when she's in Lowcleft. Her walls go up and she gets all defensive around the rest of you. Maybe it's because you're mostly men and she doesn't know how to deal with men other than to seduce them. She gets along fairly well with Laya and Mrs. Brigglespan.

You know I've never gotten around to actually writing his background. Awgin was raised in a tribe of orcs. He eventually ran away to live alone in a not-so-neutral-zone between the orc tribes and civilization. Eventually he was captured and made to fight in illegal bloodsport. His 'formal' education came from some of the older fighters who thought it best not to have a ravening beast in their midst. Capt. Percival led the team that assaulted the place and personally freed him. So, for Awgin, it's, "Death happens. Get over it." He raised a glass to the guy. Awgin has now moved on. Now if the Captain were to say something, Awgin would be there.

Actually, I'm going to step in with my veto stick for a moment, suggesting that there probably isn't actually a graveyard outside the temple. In Magnimar, the place of honour for burial are the Catacombs underneath the Cenotaph and sprawling out from there. Access to the catacombs is gained through the Cenotaph Cathedral. However, Markiv would not garner a place in those high-brow crypts, and so everybody would be transported from the Cathedral by black carraige to a cemetary just outside the city, which is also tended by the priesthood from the Cathedral.

Other than that, carry on...

Really? That seems odd given that the religion's all about birth and death. I would expect just about every Pharasmin temple to have a graveyard (at least a small one), especially one in a place as big as Magnimar. To quote AP#44:

Pharasma’s temples are often gothic cathedrals, usually located near a town’s graveyard, although a single bleak stone in an empty field or graveyard can serve as a shrine. Large temples usually have catacombs underneath, filled with corpses of the wealthy and former members of the priesthood, as burial under the goddess’s temple is believed to raise her opinion of the deceased when it is time for judgment. Even a remote Pharasmin monastery has a large area set aside for burial, and may be the final resting place of generations of wealthy and influential folk—as well as an uncountable accumulation of tomb treasures.

Agreed, but in this case, it's not a cemetery but the catacombs. The catacombs are canon, I've placed the Pharasma Cathedral there myself as that made sense, but given the district, there's just no space for the graveyard. The Catacombs hold a special place in the minds of the Magnimar elite, and the city's history. Magnimar is, after all, the City of Monuments, and the city's greatest hero is buried there.

"Exactly. In Markiv's funeral we honor him, but we're also showing the city where we stand. What's important to us as a community."

Ironically, if Heward had put it like this to Auriel, she might have shown up. Sounds like a protest-cum-performance art. Of course, no one might have wanted to hear her graveside speech denouncing the bureaucracy and the depersonalizing aspects of authority. :)

I thought about making a similar argument, but then considered that it might be a bit too philosphical for Heward. I was very glad Calatin provided the inpetus for Heward to think about it in that way.

The PCs are probably better off without Auriel's graveside speech, although the players are no doubt poorer for it.

Just to confirm that I'm definitely interested in the meet-up with Calistrians you mentioned in a spoiler above. I'll just assume it'll be coming up at some point as the plot progresses ... unless, of course, Heward tries to put his foot down on Auriel and she's forced to throw her badge back in his face and resign.

It would contain her parents names, address, and occupation (cobblers in the Marches) and her full name (Auriel Imperia Minick). No juvenile record but then a sudden accumulation of minor incidents in Lowcleft starting about 18 months ago: drunk & disorderlies, resisting arrest, assaulting an officer of the Watch (pelted with eggs), stealing an officer's uniform coat and using it to make an effigy, burning said effigy, and repeated write-ups for squatting in various buildings. All of these were in company of a large group, and the Watch arrested only the ringleaders and only detained the rest of the mob long enough to be written up; she was obviously a follower rather than an instigator. The final entry details how a ring of pickpockets and minor burglars used her performances as an opportunity to work the gathered crowds, culminating in an attempt to break into the vacant home of a vacationing merchant in Grand Arch. The captain notes that, while he suspects her of being in cahoots with the criminals, there was no actual evidence tying her to the crimes other than her physical presence at the scene; however, his insinuation that one of the pickpockets had fingered her, although untrue, had been enough to persuade her that she could indeed face trial unless she agreed to help the new MSI unit. He expresses a hope that, as she is still young and impressionable and has no actual criminal record, the assignment will influence her to cast in with the side of law and good citizenship rather than end up another statistic of misspent youth and tragic end.

Latenight finds him on the docks watching the moon rise. A pair of fins break the water, and he muses on the rod and reel back in his room. When was the last time I used them? Awgin's got his garden. Calatin's got his books. I really should make time to fish. Hmmm. I wonder what Auriel and Laya do? Or Garidan for that matter...

That line has made me realize that I need to rethink a chunk of Laya's background since she can no longer hang out in the cemetery behind the Pharasmin Temple, since Nazard has ruled that there isn't one there. Hmmmm....

As for Laya's file, feel free to read her background on her page. There's nothing secret in it, although Heward might be surprised to learn she's married. :)

You know I've never gotten around to actually writing his background. Awgin was raised in a tribe of orcs. He eventually ran away to live alone in a not-so-neutral-zone between the orc tribes and civilization. Eventually he was captured and made to fight in illegal bloodsport. His 'formal' education came from some of the older fighters who thought it best not to have a ravening beast in their midst. Capt. Percival led the team that assaulted the place and personally freed him. So, for Awgin, it's, "Death happens. Get over it." He raised a glass to the guy. Awgin has now moved on. Now if the Captain were to say something, Awgin would be there.

The only stuff that's not in here is that during the time between his rescue and MSI, Awgin earned money as freelance muscle for some of the petty gangs in the city. Captain Percival felt a bit responsible for him plus his new unit could use some streetwise muscle, so he hired Awgin. He hopes that the structure of the Watch will help round out some of Awgin's rough edges.

Calatin's file is quite dull. A life-long bookworm, with parents in the catering trade, he embarked on the study of magic early and scored consistently high marks throughout his studies... with the sole exception of combat magic, which never caught his interest! He's never been in trouble with the law, and seems to have no hobbies beyond reading and eating...

Are we waiting on Garidan? ProfPotts doesn't seem to have posted anywhere since January 4th. Should we either just assume he's at the meeting with us or has been sent off on some errand or other until we know if he's coming back?

Are we waiting on Garidan? ProfPotts doesn't seem to have posted anywhere since January 4th. Should we either just assume he's at the meeting with us or has been sent off on some errand or other until we know if he's coming back?

Assume he comes in late (since Heward has already said he wasn't there. I sent Alex an e-mail, so let's wait to hear from him before replacing yet another player.